Selection by student panel is known

July 10, 2017

As of last year a student panel is installed consisting of five students from art academies. This year ArtEZ University of the Arts, Design Academy, Royal Academy of the Arts, Gerrit Rietveld Academy and Werkplaats Typografie were participants. The students - Anna Lenczewska, Audrey Quaranta, Irene Stracuzzi, Jan van der Kleijn and Michiel Terpelle - follow the same procedures as the professional panel, examining the books on a number of days and later spending two days arriving at their own final selection. This year 298 books were submitted, the student panel choose 32 books. Their commentary can be read at the student website. (Books marked with an * were chosen by the professional jury as well.)

Are you interested in joining the competition and do you want a reminder when the registration 2017 starts, please send an email to info@bestverzorgdeboeken.nl.

Registration is open!

December 1, 2016

Registration for The Best Dutch Book Designs is open till Friday January 7. Publishers, designers, printers, artists, authors, academy students and other bookmakers can submit the books made in 2016. Out of all the registrations a professional panel of judges will select The Best Dutch Book Designs 2016. Up to 33 books can get the seal of approval. Digital books can also be registered.

What are the requirements? What is the submission fee? The answers can be found in the Regulations.

The Dutch selection will be submitted to the international competition, The Best Book Designs from all over the World (Leipzig). The Dutch and the international selection will be announched at March 3 2017. Later in the year the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam will exhibit the Dutch awards; the offical catalogue will be published at the same time.

All the submitted books will be judged by professionals but also by a panel of students from five Dutch art academies. Their selection of 33 books will be shown at the student website and in a separate catalogue.

Shanghai - Beijing - Moscow

September 27, 2016

The Best Book Designs from the Netherlands and Flanders are travelling around the world. They were exhibited at the Shanghai Book Fair (end of August) and the Russian National Book Festival 'Zhar-Kniga' (September 19 till 26). This week the books are still on display in Beijing where the Design Week is held.

Often the organizing institute invites Dutch designers to give a presentation or a workshop. In Shanghai Thomas Castro (LUST) and Titus Knegtel (winner Golden Letter Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt 2016) gave presentations as Haico Beukers and Marga Scholma did in Moscow.

Photo: Russian book lovers are inspecting the selection

Students are getting involved

September 5, 2016

The new policy of the Stichting The Best Book Designs is cranking up the exchange of ideas and experience between the next generation of book makers and the established order.

As part of this change in policy, this year saw entry fees waived for students at academies and colleges, and for new graduates. The books made by students are part of the total amount of entries and were examined in exactly the same way as other entries.

This year a student panel consisting of design students at Dutch and Flemish art academies and colleges were installed. They followed the same procedures as the professional panel and they presented also a comprehensive report. Both the selection and the judges’ report are being made available online (as an appendix to the Stichting’s website) and in a catalogue (www.bol.com). Catalogue and website have been designed as degree projects by Floor Weijs, Sander Molenaar, Lieke de Blank and Bernd de Ridder, all students at ArtEZ, the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design.

Catalogue by Irma Boom is available

September 2, 2016

The brand new catalogue The Best Book Designs from the Netherlands and Flanders 2015 | De Best Verzorgde Boeken van Nederland en Vlaanderen is available!

It is a typical Irma Boom product: powerful in all its simplicity. The book excells in great tactility thanks to the 60gsm paper (IBO ONE supplied by Igepa) that has been used for the interior and the double folded cover. The 33 Dutch and 17 Flemish books are being presented in black and white photographs in 256 pages.

Irma Boom wrote especially for this catalogue a manifesto in which she presents herself as the passionate lover of paper books that she is. A must read.

The catalogue could be made because of the hard work of printer Tielen (Boxtel) and book binders Patis (Den Dolder( and Hexspoor (Boxtel). The paper was donated by Igepa.

Softcover € 29,50 | ISBN 978 90 5965 393 1 | 256 p. | 173 x 238 mm

Dutch-Flemish selection on display

September 2, 2016

The cultural season has started! One of the highlights is the exhibition of The Best Book Designs from the Netherlands and Flanders at the Stedelijk Museum. The books can be held and looked into. The exhibition runs until Sunday 30th October.

This year is a special edition: in addition to 33 Dutch books there are 17 Flemish books selected by a Dutch-Flemish jury. Why? Because the Netherlands and Flanders will be Guests of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016. For this special occasion The Best Dutch Book Designs joined forces with Flanders.

This afternoon the ceremony will be held where the authors, publishers, designers, lithographers, printers and binders of the selected books are going to be honored. They will receive a certificate and the catalogue which is designed by Irma Boom. Catalogue and books are for sale at the museum shop.

The ceremony starts with lectures and a discussion about the differences and similarities between Dutch and Flemish culture.

[photograph Stedelijk Museum / Gert Jan van Rooij]

The Best Dutch and Flemish Book Designs 2015

February 22, 2016

The Best Dutch Book Designs of 2015 are known!

This year we are proud to present a special selection of 33 Dutch and 17 Flemish books. Because the Netherlands and Flanders are Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016 the Flemish Publishers Association and our organisation have worked together to reach a joined competition.

Publishers, commisioners, designers, printers and binders have submitted books that appeared in 2015 amounting to 410 books in total. They were judged by a Dutch-Flemish panel consisting of Carolien Glazenburg (curator at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), Wouter Roelants (bookseller and publisher), Luc Derycke (designer, Ghent), Koen Brams (former director Jan van Eyck Academie & former chief editor De Witte Raaf) and Freek Kuin (creative director at printer robstolk®). Books in which one of the judges was involved were nominated for election by a shadow panel consisting of former Best Dutch Book Designs judges.

The books that they have selected distinguished themselves conspicuously by their editorial choices, graphic design, treatment of images and text, choice of material and technical workmanship.

4 awards at Leipzig including first prize

March 7, 2016

The international panel of Best Book Design from all over the World has decided to grant 4 awards to the Dutch and Flemish Best Book Designs. The first prize, the Golden Letter goes to Other Evidence: Blindfold (published and designed by Titus Knegtel; printed by Tielen).

The Silver Medal is granted to Brick (Jan Peter Wingender; published by Architectura & Natura; designed by Studio Joost Grootens; printed by robstolk® and binded by Van Waarden).

The Bronze Medal goes to Het Meest Geloofde Sprookje (published and written by De Vormforensen; designed by De Vormforensen and Lyanne Tonk; printed by Tielen and binded by Abbringh).

An Honorary Appreciation is awarded to Taking off. Henry my neighbor (edited by Mariken Wessels; published by Art Paper Editions; designed by Mariken Wessels, Jurgen Maelfeyt; printed by Die Keure and binded by Hexspoor).

The panel has chosen from 600 submitted entries from 32 countries. The Best Designs from all over the World knows the following awards:1 Golden Letter, 1 Golden Medal, 2 Silver Medals, 5 Bronze Medals and 5 Honorary Appreciations.

The award ceremony will be at March 18 at the Leipzig Book Fair.

Submission is closed

January 19, 2016

On February 22 we will make public which books are The Best Book Designs 2015 (Dutch and Flemish).

Registration is open!

November 24, 2015

This winter, until January 6, you can register new books for a special edition of The Best Dutch Book Designs 2015.

For once it will be a Dutch-Flemish cooperation. Why? Because the Netherlands and Flanders will be Guests of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016. For this special occasion The Best Dutch Book Designs joined forces with Flanders. Five judges from the Netherlands and Flanders, all experienced book pros, will scrutinize the books submitted and will compile this 57th selection of the year.

Simultaneously their choice will be the Dutch-Flemish submission to the Best Book Design from all over the World competition in Leipzig, Germany. Later in 2016 the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam will exhibit the new selection.

New catalogue

September 22, 2015

The new catalogue The Best Dutch Book Designs 2014 De Best Verzorgde Boeken is for sale. It has become a small robust jewel of 612 pages that opens nicely. Presented are the 33 books selected by this year's jury in words and images. The catalogue has been designed by the young designer duo Haller Brun (Sonja Haller and Pascal Brun).

They decided to reproduce in thumbnails the whole interior of the 33 books. Because of this, the reader needs only one glance to experience the rhythm of the book. The result is cinematic. The additional photoshoot by Sonia Mangiapane of the bookshelves of the makers of The Best Dutch Book Designs 2014 is a nice extra.

The book could be realised thanks to generous support from a whole bunch of players in the Dutch printing industry, among them five printers and three finishing specialists. The paper was made available by suppliers Antalis and Arctic Paper Benelux. L. van Heek Textiles, manufacturers of book binding materials, contributed the dustjacket material.

Softcover € 29,50, ISBN 978 90 5965 289 7

Where? At the Stedelijk

September 10, 2015

Since Saturday September 5 they are on show again at the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum, the books belonging to the annual selection of Best Dutch Book Designs. This time it's all about the judges' choice of books from The Netherlands that appeared in 2014. The exhibition will last until Sunday October 25.

The Best Dutch Book Designs are waiting for you there, ready to be taken in your hands and to be leafed through. Besides that, all the books that were submitted for the judging last January can be seen on screen in the exhibition – this year for the first time.

Most of the Best Dutch Book Designs are on sale in the museum shop of the Stedelijk during the exhibition.

[photo Stedelijk Museum / Gert Jan van Rooij]

Esther Scholten will be the new director

September 8, 2015

Esther Scholten will become the new director of the Best Dutch Book Designs. She is the successor of Just Enschedé, who has been the competition's director for 18 years. In 1998 he stood at the cradle of the Best Dutch Book Designs Foundation, a cooperation between professional organisations in the Dutch book and printing industries and the world of design. The following period saw a steady growth in the number of Best Dutch Book Designs exhibitions both in the Netherlands and abroad.

Being director of the Best Dutch Book Designs is a parttime job. The new director, Esther Scholten (b. 1970), will combine her job as a developer of promotional campaigns with the Dutch collective book promotion bureau CPNB with the directorship of the Best Dutch Book Designs. Her expertise in the field of book promotion will match her experience as an art historian.

Esther looks forward to consolidate and even enhance the quality and merit of the Best Dutch Book Designs – especially with respect to the digital challenges. 'The Best Dutch Book Designs are an ideal source of inspiration for all involved in the making of books. The competition is a perfect vehicle to make clear why books are still to be made. Evidently, being included in the selection means an acknowledgement of inventivity and hard work in hindsight. It means that your colleagues appreciate what you do. Makers of books who, right from the start, do their utmost to be included in the selection, that's something I'm dreaming of. Simply because they want to make the best book possible.'

Most beautiful book cover: Alice in Wonderland

March 10, 2015

Alice in Wonderland / Alice in Spiegelland is not only one of the Best Dutch Book Designs of 2014, it is also clad in the most beautiful book cover of that year. That is the result of an election held in January. llustrator Floor Rieder and designer Suzanne Nuis are responsible for the book's appearance, Gottmer, Haarlem, being the publisher.

Libris, the organisation in which some hundred independent booksellers cooperate, initiated this election. Booksellers nominated 15 covers, more than 4,000 readers went to vote.

Between 2001 and 2010 the Best Dutch Book Designs foundation organised this election in collaboration with the Dutch book trade magazine Boekblad. When this initiative was discontinued Libris took over.

Best of the best in Leipzig

March 2, 2015

Books in the field of art, photography and architecture are increasingly published in a variety of international entanglements. This year's Golden Letter, the highest prize of the Best Book Design from all over the World contest in Leipzig, Germany, was won by the book Untitled (September Magazine) by artist Paul Elliman, co-published by Roma Publications from Amsterdam.

This book hit the Leipzig jury desk as one of the most beautiful books of 2013 in Brussels and Wallonia. Two of the Best Dutch Book Designs 2014 also won prizes in Leipzig.

A silver medal was awarded to Awoiska van der Molen's photo book Sequester (published by Fw:Books, design Hans Gremmen). Besides that there was a bronze medal for New Horizons by Bruno van den Elshout, who a year long took photograps of the sea from a roof (published by The Eriskay Connection, design Rob van Hoesel).

The seven judges in Leipzig had to judge 585 books from 30 countries. The award ceremony will take place on March 13 at the Leipzig Book Fair.

The Best Dutch Book Designs 2014

February 27, 2015

Today we make public which books are The Best Dutch Book Designs of 2014.

Who chose them? That job was done by a panel consisting of Hans Bockting (graphic designer, Amsterdam), Carolien Glazenburg (curator at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), Bregitta Kramer (print coordinator, book binder and teacher in printing techniques, Diemen), Joris Kritis (graphic designer, Brussels) and Astrid Vorstermans (publisher at Valiz, Amsterdam). Books in which one of the judges was involved were nominated for election by a shadow panel consisting of former Best Dutch Book Designs judges.

What was the scope of the choice? The choice was made out of 298 books that appeared in 2014, submitted by their publishers, commissioners, designers or companies that took care of their production.

What did the judges choose? The judges chose 33 books that according to their opinion distinguished themselves conspicuously by their editorial choices, graphic design, treatment of images and text, choice of material and technical workmanship.